Study On Imbalance Of Th17/Treg Cells And Related Factors In Rat Autoimmune Hepatitis Models

BACKGROUND: Many animal models and clinical studies at home and abroad have shown that liver injury in autoimmune hepatitis(AIH)is closely related to immune regulation,especially the destruction of Th17,Treg cells and their balance and the related cytokine-induced autoimmune response participate in the occurrence and development of AIH disease,but the specific mechanism is still unclear.AIM: To investigate the significance and role of imbalance of Th17 cells and regulatory T cells(Treg)in acute and chronic immune hepatitis model of Wistar rats induced by ?-galcer and ConA.METHODS:Thirty female Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups.Intravenous injection of ?-galactosylceramide(?-galcer)and concanavalin A(ConA)established acute autoimmune liver model group(A)and chronic autoimmune liver model group(C),tail vein injection physiology brine was used as a healthy group(H).Liver function AST,ALT,bilirubin,serum albumin were detected;HE staining was used to observe pathological changes;immunohistochemical method was used to detect Foxp3 and ROR?t protein expression;ELISA was used to detect peripheral blood IL-17 and IL-6.IL-10 and TGF-? cytokine levels;flow cytometry was used to detect changes in Th17 cell and Treg cell frequency,and the Th17/Treg ratio was calculated.RESULTS:Compared with group H,the levels of ALT,AST and Tbil in serum of group A and C increased,while the levels of ALB decreased,with statistical significance(P < 0.05).Compared with group H,the frequency of Th17 cells and related factors(ROR?t,IL-17,IL-6)in A group were significantly increased(P<0.05),Treg cell frequency and related factors(TGF-?,IL-10)were also elevated(P<0.05),but the ratio of Th17/Treg was higher than that of group H(P<0.05);the frequency of Th17 cells and the levels of related cytokines in group C were higher than those in group H(P < 0.05),the frequency of Treg cells and related cytokines increased significantly,and the Th17/Treg ratio decreased compared with group H(P < 0.05).CONCLUSION:The Th17/Treg ratio is significantly increased in the acute immune hepatitis model,and decreased significantly in the chronic autoimmune hepatitis model.The imbalance of Th17/Treg is involved in the development of autoimmune hepatitis disease and is closely related to its immune status and disease progression.